Dizzyingly Dope Handcrafted Designs from Wessex Watches | Video

Living in today’s overloaded electronic world often leaves many of us clamoring for a simpler age. We here at stupidDOPE are fervent pushers of culture, so we have got to let our readers know when time-honored styles in wristwatches re-emerge with nods to a storied past.

Ticking away just over the pond in Wiltshire county of the United Kingdom is Jamie Boyd’s wildly successful Wessex Watches. For years and years, Jamie has been an avid collector of “real” watches. However in 2015, he decided to make his mark on the mechanical watch world by embarking on a quest to create high quality engraved dial watches timekeepers at a wholly feasible cost. It’s never easy to reduce overhead, but it seems as if Wessex Watches have discovered the solution to procuring that luxurious attribute without customers looking down the barrel of a $5k+ bill. Each timepiece is configured by Wessex Watch professionals. Their Wiltshire workshop oversees every hand crafted dial assembled, as well as securing superior manufacturing standards through in-house finishing, regulations and testing procedures. Each watch is built to order, so make no mistake that the watch you summon is exactly the watch you desire. Each Wessex watch comes with a 2 or 4 year warranty, depending on the movement chosen. We chose the Spirodial I, and we were left speechless when it arrived at our office.

Inspired in part from our childhood, the Spirodial I takes it’s dizzying design from the drawing toy, Spirograph. It is a clear-cut case of Optical Art that leaves watch-enthusiasts in awe of a seemingly 3D experience when eyes are fixed on any region of the overlapping circles. The entire inner dial almost looks as if it it hoisted further than the index. It’s the simple, yet eye-catching design that enticed us, and the fact that the relief-engraved dial is composed of a solid chunk of .925 sterling silver only sweetened the pot.

The Spirodial I incorporates a Swiss-made manual winding mechanism that cranks out an impressive 45 hours from full wind. The attention to detail is impeccable, especially with the timepiece’s “half moon” hands and sapphire crystal exhibition case. Seeing just what makes the Spirodial I tick is almost as beautiful as the watch’s ability to keep hour, minutes and seconds with extra-ordinary precision. Not that we would ever intentionally immerse such a luxurious item, but the Spirodial I is water resistant with a depth rating of 5 atm. Wessex Watches allows each buyer to also choose their accompanying band, so we went with the Rockley variety. The rugged yet supple watch strap is comprised of prime Italian Calf Leather mingling with a velvety suede grain. We really appreciated the ultra-heavy stitching and our engraved buckle/clasp.

The strap with the Spirodial I face is unmistakable in it’s timeless glory, so we took that pairing to the top of Hong Kong to classically kick it at Victoria Peak. Peep the video above for some visuals. We heard that the Spirodial I is the first of many new “Op-Art” designs from Wessex Watches, so stay tuned for more timely developments via stupidDOPE.com!